Need advice on how to take glue off!

[DatFossilBoy]

Hey guys. 

So my friend recently gave me this awesome fossil canine tooth from China.

Unfortunately the tooth has been very badly glued back in 2 different places after it was broken.

I would like if possible to know how to remove glue, superglue in this case so I can reglue it properly.

I would not like to risk the tooth being irreversibly damaged...

Do you guys know how and if I could do that? Thanks for any imput.  

Kind regards,

Thomas

[DatFossilBoy]

[facehugger]

Acetone neutralizes superglue. Unsure how acetone will chemically affect the fossil itself. 

[Ptychodus04]

Acetone will dissolve almost every glue. You can repeatedly apply acetone with a q-tip to the joint you want to debond, then use an acetone soaked tooth brush to clean off the ends.

[caldigger]

15 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

then use an acetone soaked tooth brush to clean off the ends.

***Test your brush first. Some plastic bristles will start dissolving in acetone.

And yes, I've made that mistake before.

[DatFossilBoy]

16 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Acetone will dissolve almost every glue. You can repeatedly apply acetone with a q-tip to the joint you want to debond, then use an acetone soaked tooth brush to clean off the ends.

 

1 minute ago, caldigger said:

***test your brush first. Some plastic bristles will start dissolving in acetone.

Thank you very much!

[Wrangellian]

41 minutes ago, caldigger said:

***Test your brush first. Some plastic bristles will start dissolving in acetone.

And yes, I've made that mistake before.

I tried that too and the brush itself immediately started to turn white as if being dissolved by the acetone! I guess the bristles would come out soon if I continued.

[Ptychodus04]

I typically use the relatively “nice” brushes I get from my dentist with my cleanings (yes, I use the new ones on my teeth and the old one goes to the lab).

 

I’ve not experienced any degradation of the brush or bristles from acetone. Ive even had them stand up to a bit of straight muriatic acid (for a very short duration).

[DatFossilBoy]

5 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I tried that too and the brush itself immediately started to turn white as if being dissolved by the acetone! I guess the bristles would come out soon if I continued.

 

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I typically use the relatively “nice” brushes I get from my dentist with my cleanings (yes, I use the new ones on my teeth and the old one goes to the lab).

 

I’ve not experienced any degradation of the brush or bristles from acetone. Ive even had them stand up to a bit of straight muriatic acid (for a very short duration).

I don’t even have do use a brush do I?

I can just put some acetone between the cracks and wait until the glue is dissolved then remove the remnants of the glue with a cutip?

 

[Ptychodus04]

12 minutes ago, DatFossilBoy said:

 

I don’t even have do use a brush do I?

I can just put some acetone between the cracks and wait until the glue is dissolved then remove the remnants of the glue with a cutip?

 

Brushing is faster. Unless you soak the whole tooth to dissolve all the glue, you will need to work pretty hard to get all the glue off the surfaces.

 

Soaking the tooth is dangerous as there is likely more glue joints than you expect. You could wind up with a pile of tooth scraps.

[DatFossilBoy]

49 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Brushing is faster. Unless you soak the whole tooth to dissolve all the glue, you will need to work pretty hard to get all the glue off the surfaces.

 

Soaking the tooth is dangerous as there is likely more glue joints than you expect. You could wind up with a pile of tooth scraps.

Yeah not going to do that

[Wrangellian]

What Kris said!

Depending on the kind of glue I'm trying to remove, and the fossil/rock itself, I might use a needle to pick and scrape the softened glue off of the surfaces.

[Ptychodus04]

Your best bet is to locally apply acetone as suggested and then assess the situation. You may be able to pick the glue off. If it is glued with cyanoacrylate, the glue joint might be fairly weak as CA doesn't penetrate enamel well.